


A Questionable Method of Survival

by olicitea



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: (gone wrong), Aerugo, F/M, Jungles, diplomatic mission, quicksand!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21763477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olicitea/pseuds/olicitea
Summary: They did not survive a war, they did not suffer through all the hardship and strife, and they did not work day and night to get where they were now - just to have Roy die because he got swallowed up by quicksand.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	A Questionable Method of Survival

**Author's Note:**

> so I wrote this like a year ago but hey I might as well post it now without even proofreading it because why not!
> 
> also pls don't take this seriously I know its pretty dumb lol (ps: my understanding of quicksand is very superficial and I am aware of that)

In hindsight, they should have seen this coming.

Aerugo was known to many hostile tribes, not affiliated with the government, so if they just came waltzing through the jungle it made sense for them to be seen as intruders. 

Yet they just hadn’t thought of it. Volunteering as the representative from Eastern Command, Roy Mustang and his team had eagerly taken a train down south to the border until the final station, where they had to switch to caravan to continue. It was the only way to get through; past the jungle was civilization, and it was where they were headed on a diplomatic mission. It was simple enough.

But it didn’t even occur to them, until the first gunshot rang out, the hazard of what they were doing. 

So as Riza Hawkeye sprinted through the dense trees, branches scratching at her face and arms, she was kicking herself for not taking more precautions. She held her gun in her hand, trying not to stumble over tree trunks and uneven ground. The air was almost as thick as the jungle itself, the humidity clinging to her skin and infiltrating her lungs. 

Her limited field of vision gave her a heightened sense of urgency, and with bullets flying and people shouting she only had one primal instinct - to find the Colonel. 

She didn’t remember the exact point that the two had been separated, but it was somewhere in between their caravan getting ambushed and Fuery getting kidnapped. Now she didn’t know who was chasing who, and she was not about to let her superior officer get lost in an unknown jungle.

“Hawkeye!” As if on cue, Roy stood in a minuscule clearing, his face considerably pale, and Riza’s heart constricted with worry. She walked over to him, wincing at her tender ankle - she hadn’t even realized she had rolled it while running. 

“Colonel, we need to get out of here,” she replied breathlessly, but he held up a hand, motioning for her to not get any closer. 

“I’m in a bit of a dilemma, Lieutenant,” he replied meekly, motioning to the ground.

It took her a second to understand what exactly was happening. And when it did dawn on her, a flash of anger overtook her.

They did not survive a war, they did not suffer through all the hardship and strife, and they did not work day and night to get where they were now - just to have Roy die because he got swallowed up by _quicksand_.

Heaving a sigh, she took a tentative step forward, nearly stumbling to the ground once she applied any sort of pressure to her leg. She bit back a groan and cursed under her breath. She looked back up at the Colonel, who had made a move to come help her. His small struggle had quickened the process, and Riza had to warn him to stay still. He was submerged to his calves now, the panic clear on his face. 

“Don’t move,” she said, scanning the area for a branch that was thick and long enough for him to grab onto. Just as she found one, another gunshot rang out, and the two of them flinched, Roy falling over into the quicksand by reflex. 

“You need to leave,” he began, a hard edge to his voice. She crawled over to him. 

“You’re ridiculous. I’m not leaving you here. Besides, sir,” she added, “I don’t think I could get out of here on my own.” She motioned to her ankle, which was already swollen. 

He was struggling more now, and the sand was rising up his waist. The fear was present in his eyes as well as the incredulity. Dying in a jungle? Plausible. Getting swallowed up by quicksand? Pathetic. 

“Colonel, Colonel, look at me,” she called, but it was hard to focus on anything other than the helpless feeling of being trapped. “Stop moving, you have to stay still.” 

But it was futile. His mind was drowning before his body was, and the anxiety raced through his veins and pooled in his stomach as the realization set in that there was no way out. He would die here and then the Lieutenant would die, and everyone else in his team would die too.

It wasn’t until Hawkeye’s lips were on his that he completely froze. His entire body stiffened, and he realized belatedly that she had pulled him by the collar to kiss him. 

As soon as she pulled away, there was a rustling in the bushes. Havoc emerged, his face muddied and scratched all over. Riza breathed an audible sigh of relief.

“Lieutenant Havoc! Help me get the Colonel out of this,” she said, unfazed, and Havoc didn’t miss a beat. 

“Really, boss? Quicksand?” he smirked, helping Hawkeye tug their superior out. 

Mustang, still dazed, graciously accepted the help from his subordinates, and was soon crawling out of the thick concoction of mud and sand he had been trapped in. The suffocating feeling dissipated immediately and his head began to clear. 

He stood up and then held a hand out to Hawkeye, who took his hand lest she stumble over again and again. 

“We gotta go find Fuery,” Havoc reminded them, and the two officers nodded in agreement. 

As they began trekking through the dense jungle once more, Hawkeye and Mustang lagged behind slightly. Once they were out of earshot, he couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room anymore.

“Why did you…?” Mustang asked, but Hawkeye broke him off, her tone no-nonsense and dry. 

“It was the only way to get you to stop moving. I don’t know if you realized, but if you had kept squirming around you would’ve been too submerged for Lieutenant Havoc and I to pull you out,” she said simply. “That’s all there was to it.”

Deadpan, he kept walking along, supporting her weight. There was nothing left to say, so they walked in silence, trying to locate the rest of their team.

They all managed to return to Central in one piece at the end of the day, but Mustang was sure it was an experience he would never forget.


End file.
